05 Oct Contractor screening: Who is responsible for checking the people on your site?
A business may carefully screen its own employees while allowing cleaners, maintenance teams, drivers, temporary workers and other contractors onto its premises with far less scrutiny.
These people may enter restricted areas, handle stock, interact with customers or gain access to systems. If something goes wrong, “they work for the contractor” does not answer the most important questions: Who confirmed their identity? Who checked their suitability for the role? Who authorised their access?
The responsibility should be agreed before work begins
The contractor will usually recruit and manage its own employees. The business receiving the service controls access to its site and must decide what evidence it requires before a person is allowed to work there.
The practical answer is to put the screening and verification requirements in the contract, identify who will perform each check, and confirm what proof will be supplied. Requirements should reflect the role and the access involved. A technician entering a server room, for example, presents a different risk from a supervised visitor.
Who should do what?
- The contractor or labour provider identifies and recruits the worker, obtains the information and authorisation needed for agreed checks, communicates personnel changes, and manages employment matters involving its staff.
- The business granting site access defines its screening and access requirements, confirms that agreed checks have been completed, keeps an approved personnel list, and updates access permissions when assignments change or end.
The exact legal and contractual duties vary by arrangement and industry. Health and safety responsibilities may also apply, particularly in construction and other regulated work. Screening should sit alongside a proper contractor management process.
What should be checked?
There is no sensible single screening package for every person who enters a site. Start with the work the person will perform, the areas they can reach, and the information or assets they may handle.
Depending on the position, relevant checks may include:
- Identity and the name of the employing contractor
- Employment or assignment confirmation
- Qualifications and professional registrations
- Driver’s licence and professional driving permit verification
- PSIRA registration where the person performs regulated security work
- Criminal record screening where appropriate to the role
- Visa or work-authorisation document verification where applicable
- Site induction and access authorisation
SSC Legacy’s employee screening and vetting service can be adapted to contractors, temporary personnel and outsourced teams. The scope is matched to the person’s responsibilities and level of access.
Do not accept a company name as proof that everyone has been checked
An approved supplier is not the same thing as an approved individual. Contractors may replace staff, send a substitute at short notice or use a subcontractor. A check performed when the contract was signed may say little about the person arriving at reception today.
Ask for an up-to-date list of authorised personnel. Agree on a process for additions and replacements, and ensure that access cards and system permissions are removed when an assignment ends. If a worker’s role changes, review whether the original checks still match their new level of access.
Handle personal information carefully
Screening involves personal information, sometimes including sensitive results. Decide which checks are necessary, who may see the results, how long the records will be retained and how they will be secured.
SSC Legacy’s screening process includes the relevant candidate consent and documentation before verification begins. Employers and contractors should make their data-sharing arrangements clear rather than passing full background reports between organisations without a defined purpose.
Five questions to ask before granting access
- Who is this person, and which company employs them?
- What work are they authorised to perform?
- Which areas, assets or systems can they access?
- Which role-relevant checks have been completed, and by whom?
- Who will tell us when their assignment ends or changes?
If the answers are unclear, resolve the gap before granting unsupervised or sensitive access. A documented process protects both the business and properly authorised contractor staff.
Build contractor screening into your access process
Contractor screening works best when procurement, HR, security and site management use the same requirements. That makes it easier to check a new arrival, respond to a change in personnel and demonstrate why access was granted.
SSC Legacy can assist with screening individual contractors or reviewing gaps across an existing outsourced workforce. Contact SSC Legacy to discuss checks suited to your site, roles and risk exposure.